Renewal of curriculum in Kindergarten after our participation in the Erasmus + project "My culture ,your culture, our culture "

2. Renewal of curriculum in Kindergarten
In the rapidly changing context of today's education, it happened the
necessity to improve successful traditional practices and to bring forward
new approaches that respond to today's realities of the 21st century, to the
expectations and needs of students.
Making changes to the existing curriculum that responds to the
requirements of modern times, we offer to children a better quality in
their learning process ,thus achieving European added value in
the quality of education.
One of results of this project is the renewal of curriculum in
Kindergarten with the integration of cultural and museum education in
learning and teaching activities.

3. The conditions and needs of modern society are changing at
such a rapid pace that the school is unable to anticipate the
demands and social context that today's students will face. The
effortless and fast access to a wealth of information and
knowledge through the development of technology, leads us to
redefine education and cultivate skills from preschool age that
will make children active citizens of tomorrow. People able to
analyze complex situations, consider alternatives and make
decisions, something that the development of 21st Century
Learning Skills, critical thinking, collaboration, communication
and creativity offers

4. During the implemidation of this project we applied the Cultural and
museum education in combination with collaborative teaching methods
and the thirsty for learning, expression and creativity of this age as a
means of stimulating and sustaining children's interest, with excellent
results.
Through this combination (including the use of ICT) in
learning/teaching process we helped children to develop general skills,
gain knowledge about technology, develop their critical knowledge,
develop their creativity and develop their self-expression and self
confidence and to inforce their European identity knowing their culture
and the culture of other European nations.
Pedagogical method of teaching and learning

5. 1. We used the collaborative method that encourages students to engage
and collaborate with one another, promotes the development of their
abilities, contributes to their development process and offers
opportunities for initiative, creativity and self-efficacy, seeking
maximize the experiential approach of our subject.
2. We also chosen the DEWEY (Learning by doing) child-centered
approach, which prioritizes the active involvement of children and
favors the development of initiatives on the part of children, and
teaching is participatory and aims not only at the transmission of
knowledge but also at the whole child development, which is also our
overriding goal

6. 3.Cultural education
We used the cultural education as a mean of teaching and learning,
because is a tool of self-knowledge and pedagogical practice that can
awaken the children's interest and give them possibility to experience a
rich and interesting school life.
It can lead to breaking the unilateral teaching methodology, routine
passivity and life isolation.
It can lead the student out of the school hall and the courtyard and give
the chance to deal with the reality as it is in the immediate environment.
Having into consideration, that the infants' world understanding goes
through five senses, the implementation of a cultural program in
Kindergarten classes finds appropriate ground and its objectives are
agreed with the basic principles of the new cross-media approach to
knowledge.

7. The objectives of cultural education are consistent with and serve the basic
principles of Preschool Education, which is the all-round, harmonious and
balanced development of the mental and psychosomatic forces of infants, the
development of creative and critical thinking, the development of friendship
and cooperation and their successful social integration a modern and
progressive school covering new social and scientific needs of contemporary
society.
The contribution of culture, and especially of cultural heritage, as a factor of
social cohesion emerges as one of the most important challenges for 21st
century societies, but also for Europe's sustainability itself.
The variety of subjects of native culture gives teachers the opportunity to use
linguistic, cultural, intercultural, artistic, aesthetic and historical material . But
the most important thing is that it gives children an exciting journey into the
imaginary world of the past.

8. Correlating their knowledge and experience with their practical work with
values, children will be able to create their own settings that will lead to
their potential future activities, having understanding for the multifaceted
importance of the cultural heritage, the need to protect it from the
potential risks.
Through the educational process the cultural material can feed the new
generation into its creation and add civilization the folklore, the folk
culture and the cultural heritage to the technological environment created
by the contemporary
It will help children build a harmonious relationship between the past and
the present, understand the historical and social processes and form a
cultural consciousness that will allow them to participate, to create variant
or new cultural forms.

9. 4. Museum education
We also used the Museum education because we consider that helps pupils
understand the historical value of objects, respect diverse cultures and
understand multiculturalism.
Exploring museums gives students the ability to engage actively in the
process of acquiring knowledge and to express thoughts and emotions.
Effective use of museums can lead to multifaceted learning, development
of critical thinking skills and acquisition of lifelong learning skills.
Museums are important educational environments and offer considerable
learning potential. Learning in museums helps pupils understand the
historical value of objects, respect diverse cultures and understand
multiculturalism.

10. Collections exhibited in museums provide pupils with a tangible connection
with time, places, events, or people and allow them to experience the
evolution of human history and cultural heritage.
Through a museum education program children can further develop their
perceptual ability as well as basic concepts of space-time, enriching their
vocabulary.
A visit to the museum and other activities helps to maximize children's
interest in issues related to the cultural heritage and lifestyle of their
ancestors.
A museum brings children in touch with his story, which creates a sense of
root, security and self-knowledge, gives them a sense of another way of life
and the opportunity to compare and evaluate.

11. A visit to the museum gives children the opportunity to relate human
needs to the available materials, the natural and the social environment
and through teamwork their social and emotional development will be
favored.
A visit to the museum will significantly contribute to the understanding
of children's interest in issues related to cultural heritage and lifestyle of
ancestors their. Through common activities and teamwork they will
learn to collaborate and take initiatives.
Children will develop skills to compare the present with the past and to
discern changes in the evolution of the home, household utensils, the
decoration of rooms and furniture, and more generally the way of life of
another era.

12. • To develop children's ability to make comparisons of their lives, to compare
the present with the past and realize the changes.
• To help children understand the value of cultural heritage and the
usefulness of museums.
• To strengthen their contact with European languages and to realize their
importance.
• Get in touch with the heritage and culture of other European nations,
understand the similarities between different cultures, understand their way
of life.
• To learn their customs, accept their coexistence and imagine a common
future, thus strengthening the European identity .
• Teachers will increase their knowledge and improve their professional
profile and benefit from each other's practices, ideas and experiences.
With this renewal of curriculum we aim at the following

13. The value of cultural Education in this age is invaluable, since
there are built habits and attitudes of life and formed characters, is
building the way of thought of little children and contact with
culture encourages children to participate in the educational
process, to get to know their cultural heritage and to cultivate their
cultural awareness.
Kindergarten as educational and learning environment is very
close to philosophy of cultural education and its objectives are the
same with them of curriculum of pre school education.
Contact with culture offers the opportunity to encourage children
to participate in the educational process, to get to know their
cultural heritage, to cultivate multiple cognitive skills, emotional
and psychomotor field, to self-act.

14. Cultural education has integrated into the school curriculum as
way of teaching and learning and during "Cultural weeks "
adopted by every participant school for the future years children
and their families could take part in various cultural activities
,which are more attractive for them because they learn through
playing.
Through cultural activities ,they are more competent more
positive about the new way of learning.
The analytic program of pre school education is flexible ,so
teachers have the possibility to introduce activities such as these
without problems.

15. Museum education is now a part of the curriculum in all participant
institutions ,with systematic and frequent visits to each type of museum
from where we could take important sources of information of the past, the
way of life, the culture and the history of a place and children develop skills
to compare the present with the past and to discern changes in the evolution
of life .
The creation of school museum in every partner institution in
combination with museum education ,will be for the next years the subject
of discussion and motivation of interest for further learning, awakening
children's curiosity.
The museum is an important tool in preschool education
because it invites children to new learning experiences through a new
learning environment, activating their curiosity and interest in their objects
and collections that offer multiple "readings" through experiential learning.

16. During the program, the children shared their ideas and work with
children from other European countries, learned about their culture,
painted for the need of the project, created on line games , visited
museums, historical monuments and factories with traditional
products.
They learned about the style of life in old times, about the
traditional costumes, shared wishes, songs, stories, languages,
traditions, food, dances and customs with the children of the other
participant countries, getting the feeling that they are part of a
larger world called Europe, knowing cultural events, that unite
people and build bridges of peace and friendship.

17. The main objective of this change is to educate people inserted in the
cultural identity of our time, approaching different cultures with respect
and understanding, recognizing richness and cultural diversity,
considering culture as a space to create non-demanding resources and
believing in the need to create economic and social sustainability.
Appreciation and respect for our own tradition and our own culture will
bring self-knowledge and appreciation, respect and acceptance of the
tradition of the other no matter what country it comes from and the
realization that all cultures are a piece in the huge puzzle of world culture
and that we are not only citizens of our country but also of a larger
world.

18. As the result of this project in every partner institution, cultural
activities have already integrated in their teaching and learning process
,after related changes in their curriculum.
Teachers implement these new skills in their work with children by using
the new and more qualitative way of teaching.
A book also with good practices, new methods and learning material(as
traditional games, games for the diversity and tolerance ,knowing each
other games and other cultural activities) as result of common work
between partners, was shared in every partner institution and teachers
now have materials skills and knowledge about the apply of cultural
education in teaching and learning activities .

19. All the institutions involved in the partnership take the responsibility
to send this plan to the competent services of the Ministry of
Education so that it can be included in the official schedule of all the
Kindergartens of each participating country.
by project coordinator
Ann Magkiosi
(Greece)

20. "The European Commission support for the production of this publication
does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the
views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible
for any use which may be made of the information contained therein".